SID GRIFFIN
Interviewed by Andy Bassett via email in 1998
Founder of the Long Ryders and the Coal Porters, Kentucky-born Sid Griffin also wrote the first biography of Gram Parsons, regularly writes for Mojo and Q magazines and has provided authoritative sleevenotes for compilations of Parsons, Gene Clark and Nils Lofgren. He is married to former Dream Academy oboist/saxophonist Kate St John. Sid released a solo album, Little Victories, in 1997 and, at the time of this interview, had just produced Lindisfarne's acclaimed Here Comes The Neighbourhood.
AB: Are the Coal Porters a regular band? The musicians seem to vary from track to track on the albums.
Griffin: Yes. The first album was recorded over a four year period so there were a lot of people involved. The second album, Los London, was being recorded when the guitar player quit us for the High Llamas so we had two guest guitarists on that one so we could finish the album on time.
Tell me about your involvement in the new Gene Clark retrospective.
I was flown to A&M Records in Nov. '96 where I uncovered many unreleased Gene Clark tracks. Then I mixed several of them as they were unmixed. After I flew home with these tracks on DAT (along with unreleased tracks by Arthur Lee, Burrito Bros, etc etc) I was asked to compile the definitive two CD set of the Best Of Gene Clark. This I did and authored the liner notes as well. About four months ago I wrote an article on the career of Gene Clark which is out in the new issue of Mojo magazine. Flying High: The Best Of Gene Clark comes out Aug. 29th in the UK. No USA release, sadly.
You got to work with Gene Clark when he sang on the Long Ryders track "Ivory Tower." Any memories of that session?
Yes, Gene came in looking like hell, hungover or something. It was around noon at A&M Studios, a tough time to sing for anyone. At first he sounded awful, just awful and we were all shocked. Our drummer Greg Sowders memorably said "man, he sounds like Wild Man Fischer!" Which he did. After about five cups of really hot coffee Gene got it together and sang the unison part on the album that you hear today. He was an awfully nice guy throughout the session and indeed most times I met him.
The 10-inch single of "Looking For Lewis and Clark" included "If I Were a Bramble And You Were a Rose," a truly lovely song, with Christine Collister on harmony. How come that never got on State of Our Union (except on the CD re-issue)?
Because the other three Long Ryders didn't vote for it to be included. I voted for it and the producer Will Birch voted for it to be included but we were outvoted three to two. For each album we only let the producer and band, no one else whatsoever, vote which tracks made the final running order. Will and I were worried there were no romantic songs on the album and sure enough, people did complain about it, especially girls for some reason. A mistake plain and simple as that song was a much better composition than at least two other tunes on the final LP.
Your solo album, Little Victories, has a very close, intimate feel. It's almost like you're in the room with us. Was the album a very personal project?
Yes, and it was all recorded in one fairly small room with the same people over and over. Anytime you do this a project has a much better feel than when you use a lot of people in a lot of different studios over a long period of time. Witness your first question!
But it was good to get an album out under my own name for the first time and to not have to feel obligated to put all that ballsy rock n'roll stuff on it. It was nice to let the more melodic, acoustic cowboy side of me run wild for a change, take charge for a change.
You've just produced a new album for Lindisfarne. I am aware of your connection through Ian Thomson, who has played with the Coal Porters, but are you a longtime fan of the band?
No. I only became aware of them through Ian Thomson. They meant nothing in the States, had no hits and hardly ever toured there.
This is their first studio album since the death of Alan Hull. What was the feeling like during the sessions? Was there a sense of "Let's do this for Alan"?
No. More like "let's do this for ourselves, to prove we are as good or better than the old band" which apparently was getting rather samey and somewhat stale. And they have! It's a tremendous record, the songwriting is really good and they should be quite proud of themselves. I hope it sells millions for them, they are truly wonderful, warm, talented people who deserve it.
And finally, why don't you and Kate come down here for an acoustic tour some time?
Because no promoter or agent has ever asked us. I toured Australia in May '92 for about 30 shows but this is as close as I have come to New Zealand and if you think about it, it ain't that close! Mind you, I am playing my fair share of solo and duet acoustic gigs so we'll see...maybe we could come there one day but it is an awfully long way to travel to play low key gigs!
Thanks for the questions. Sid Griffin (off to Italy)